I listen to numerous different genres and enjoy them all, but when I start producing, I mostly set the BPM to 125-130 and border the techno/ambient techno territory. It’s weird because all my life I have been interested in breakbeats, IDM, and songs with complex rhytmic structures.
Now I have had DJing years primarily focused on Techno, which were great, I also produced a handful of Techno songs I was proud of, but sometimes I can’t help but to think if I am getting bored of the music production process itself or the constant effort to break out of the boring 4/4 time signature, in an attempt to make techno more interesting. Elektron sequencer really helped me with this but I still put too much work in making my song “not similar” to ordinary techno, instead of just focusing on the sound I want. The general techno productions also have an effect in this, as a large portion of the scene is MDMA and chewing gum-oriented, thus making me try even harder to prove I am not one of them (not to diss them, I just don’t like the sound).
I don’t enjoy the big-room berlin techno style, the ones you only listen to because of the sub-verb technique. I like to make music similar to those released by Hypnus Records, Northern Electronics, Stroboscopic Artifacts, etc. Lately I have been asking myself if I only enjoy listening to quality techno in a good sound system, whereas producing it is not as exciting as it sounds. I think it becomes even more challenging if you only target a specific niche in that genre. Can anyone relate? Have you ever doubted the sound you are aiming for?